In a protocol stack of a third generation Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) user equipment (UE), the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer schedules the uplink signaling and user plane data from the higher layer Radio Link Control (RLC) data buffers. This scheduling is based on the delay criticality and amount of the data waiting for transmission. The data buffers correspond to the information carried by the different radio bearers in the UMTS system. The radio bearer configurations are dynamic in nature based on the resource needs and are assigned to the MAC layer by the Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer, which receives them from the system messages for the specific user equipment (UE). The MAC layer is the lowest layer in the protocol stack and thereby controls the resource usage by the user equipment (UE).
The optimal resource allocation to user equipment (UE) is based on the Quality of Service (QoS) requirements of the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) applications that run on the user equipment (UE). This “need based” usage of bandwidth plays a pivotal role in providing packet-switched data orientated services in a 3GPP network. The implementation of the QoS is achieved through the allocation and subsequent scheduling of user data traffic on the radio bearers, based on priority levels assigned to them. Also of critical importance is the transmission time intervals (TTIs) (which take into account the delay limits of different application classes) assigned to the dedicated transport channels in the user equipment (UE) to which the above radio bearers are mapped. The scheduling of the data from the various dedicated transport channels (DCH) at the MAC layer at any given time is done within the constraints of the given transport format combination set (TFCS) that is given to the user equipment (UE) by the network.
There is a need in the art for an improved system and method for selecting an optimal transport format combination (TFC) from the transport format combination set (TFCS) that the network provides to the user equipment (UE). There is also a need in the art for an improved system and method for increasing the speed of the search process for selecting a transport format combination (TFC) from a transport format combination set (TFCS).